Kevin Blackwell – Bibury/Northleach

January 2018

Northleach mechanic jailed for sixteen years

A Mechanic who repeatedly raped one young girl and sexually abused another, has been jailed for sixteen years at Gloucester Crown Court.

Both girls lived in Bibury at the time Kevin Blackwell abused them over a period of more than a decade between the late 1990s and 2004, the court was told.

Blackwell, 52, of Northleach, had denied a total of 12 charges of rape and sexual assault of the girls but was convicted by a jury of nine of the counts, on Monday.

He claimed his victims, now women aged 27 and 30, had made up the allegations against him but could not offer any explanation of why they would do that.

The judge, Recorder Sarah Vaughan-Jones QC, sentenced him to 12 years jail for four rapes of the younger girl and one of indecency with her. She added four years consecutively for his four offences of sexually assaulting the older girl.

Recorder Vaughan-Jones told Blackwell he will have to sign the sex offender register for the rest of his life. And he will be subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order which prevents him mixing with children under 18 except inadvertently or with the permission of their parents or guardians.

The judge told Blackwell the impact on the girls, particularly the rape victim, had been ‘very significant.’

“She did not realise till she was much older than this behaviour was not normal,” said Recorder Vaughan-Jones.

Following Blackwell’s conviction, prosecutor Michael Hall said he was a man of hitherto good character.

The barrister read the court extracts from victim impact statements made by the two victims.

The rape victim said she now suffers from anxiety, depression low self esteem and panic attacks as a result of what Blackwell did to her.

She has trust issues and now has a daughter of her own and is worried about anyone babysitting her.

“She had suicidal thoughts as a teenager,” added Mr Hall.

The older victim stated that she turned to drink and drugs and became ‘a pretty horrible teenager’ to try to black out the memories of what Blackwell had done to her.

She still suffers with lack of self respect, she said.

At the start of the trial the jury heard that the incidents occurred when the girls were aged about five and at primary school.

“The older girl thought it was not right at the time it started,” said trial prosecutor Kannan Siva. “He used to make her lie on the floor and take her bottom clothing off.

“It happened regularly – time and time again.”

When she was 13 the girl tried to tell her mother what had happened but then ‘backed off’ because she did not want to cause upset.

However, in 2016, when the alleged victim had become a mother, she finally revealed what Blackwell had done to her and made a statement to police.

Her allegations led to the other girl coming forward as well. She had actually told a therapist in 2014 of the offences and had also later confided in her boyfriend.